emeraldgrovefandomcom-20200213-history
Emerald Glory
Humanity; once united in a common world, just and peaceful, was strong and easily the greatest race on the planet. However it was not to last. The Valkens, humans who dwelt in the southern mountains discovered a secret of an ancient power within the Sacred City Liadras' vast tunnels. Power hungry, they began a campaign to get that power. Their first attack on the city ended catastrophically. Their numbers were thinned so much that they were forced to retreat further than their own homeland. '' ''In the wastes of the dry lands, they came upon the vast goblins of the horde. After agonizing appeals, they were able to ally themselves with the innumerable goblins, who wanted nothing more than to exterminate the human race. The Valkens knew once the campaign was over, the goblins would turn on them, seeing as they would be unable to defend themselves in their limited state. That is why it is so vital to get the ancient power that dwells beneath the city. Once they have obtained the power, they could easily wipe out the goblin horde without losing a single man. The goblins knew nothing of this power, and so lead the campaign mindlessly killing all that stood in their way. Chapter 1 Ven jumped from the surrounding forest and onto the small dirt road. Several Valken's charged her with swords, yet she did a back flip and landed behind them as they ran past. She threw her twin sword like a boomerang, dicing through their innards like a laser. They collapsed in a heap of themselves. Ven hopped onto the side of the prisoner's cage, and tore out each wooden plank holding the door. The nude girl fell into her arms, and whimpered. Ven had no idea what to do. She covered the girl in her shawl, then picked her up and put her on the back of a stallion. Ven hopped on board, then shouted "Giddy-up." gleefully and blazed off down the road. The young girl had lost allot of blood from the large deep cuts on her back. She was hardly conscious and unresponsive most of the time. Her bright orange hair stood out against the red of her blood, which seemed to constantly pour from her wounds. The horse galloped for hours before nearly stumbling from exhaustion. Nightfall came quickly, the moonlight echoing the vibrant color of the young girls hair. Ven stopped the horse in a small dark grove with a spring protruding form the earth at the center of the brush. Tiny ripples moved across the waters surface. Ven stepped off the horse and gently pulled and carried the girl to the waters edge. Her bleeding has slowed but not stopped. The girl was still unconscious, and barely alive. Ven lay down by her new horse, trying to fall asleep. She had grown used to the sounds of the wild, and they soother her into sleep, but then her vision came back. Her in the capitol city, being burned by fire from the sky, boulders the smashed into buildings and crushed and burned people and animal alike. She awoke in shock, and the girl was gone. She stood up, to see the girl running down the shoreline. Ven leaped onto her horse and fled after her. Within a few feet she threw her lasso and it wrapped around the girls neck. She fell into the mud and rocks and gasped for air. Ven eased her grip, but didn't let her go. She stepped from the horse and held her sword to the nude female's neck. "Who are you ? And what is wrong with you ?!?" Ven said, with subtle anger, although her face stayed neutral. It was hard to tell if she was mad or sad, she was that good at hiding emotion. When the girl didn't answer, Ven pulled on her lasso, choking the girl. The girl stopped her moving as well as stopped her breathing. She closed her eyes for ten seconds before reopening them and at the same time fell to her knee's in the cold wet sand. She looked down at the sand below her. Through her hair Ven spotted tears falling down her face. "I... I don't know... Who I am..." She said through a choked voice. She slumped lower to the ground. The chilling breeze blowing against her bare skin makes her shiver. "I don't know where I am... Where I'm from... I don't..." she said before falling silent again. The trees blew gently in the wind back and forth like a mother gently swaying her baby. The young girl looked at them and felt a sense of peace, though she was still cold and tied up by this stranger. Ven eased her grip, slightly confused at what the girl said. She let her go, and the girl began breathing heavily. She reached into the Valken pack, tossing out a bunch of knives and grabbing an apple and some actual clothes. Ven tossed the food and clothing to the girl, then put her lasso in her own pack, and stared at her. The girl scarfed the apple down, and began getting dressed. Ven briefly turned around to tie down the horse, and when she turned around the girl had a knife to her. All Ven could to was laugh. The girl couldn't discover why this stranger was laughing at her. She held the knife, she was in control. She looked at the blade. It was sharp and scratch less. "It's not the knife..." she thought to herself. She slowly lowered the blade. As the girl began to speak a snap of a twig in the nearby bush caused the girl to throw the knife into it. She didn't know what she did until she heard a man gasp for air and fall out into the open, the knife's blade completely penetrating through his neck. The girl was both astonished and afraid of what she had just done. She stepped backward and collapsed into the sand, still trying to take in the fact she had just killed someone without thought. Ven didn't know if she should abandon this girl or help her, but her subconscious forced her to do the latter. Ven began awkwardly patting the girl's back. The girl continued to freak out, so Ven decided to shut her up. Ven lifted her sword up high, then slammed the nadle down, knocking the girl out. She remained unconscious for 3 hours, and during this time Ven and the girl had traveled as far as the border leaving their land. Ven was determined not to get caught up in the war, by any means necessary. Along the way, thousands of goblin soldiers had passed them, all headed for the city. Ven kept the horse quiet. Any sound could set off a battle which was in the goblins' favor. Numbers were everything in combat, at least that's what the goblin horde knew of war. Each one were clambering about carelessly falling in and out of formation. Whenever one of them got too far out of formation, a goblin on a chariot led by a team of large and muscular boars, whose tusks were sharp and jagged charged at them to put them back into line. "Move your rotting corpses!" one of the charioteers yelled out. The girl remained unconscious long after the army passed. Ven stopped at a small town that was in ashes. Human bodies lay everywhere; men, women and even the children were killed. Ven stepped onto the gore covered street as the girl began to stir. She quickly ran back to her horse and tied back her eyes with a blindfold. Even though Ven was called cold and heartless, she wasnt going to let her see this unimpeded. Then, she heard a noise. A screech noise. Small, yet distinct. Ven had heard it before. Then she saw several green shapes pace from the darkness, and the subtle shine of silver. "Goblins brandishing swords. 12 goblins brandishing swords. 12 GOBLINS BRANDISHING SWORDS !" Ven thought, failing at making herself seem less scared. She pulled out her blade. She had a plan. The goblins were checking all the bodies for both life and gold they might be carrying. One of them was holding a torch, setting a house on fire. The little girl was beginning to recover consciousness. She began to moan. The sound caught the interest of the goblins who began searching faster for the human that made it. The girl moved a bit and fell off the horse. The goblins rushed over to her and began to screech at her. She lifted the blindfold and stared at them. Fear rushed into her. She began to move backward away from them. Tears began to build in her eyes. As she moved away the goblins drew closer. Suddenly a loop of rope was around 3 of the goblins. They were torn into the air and spun around, before being thrown back at the other 9. They collided and were thrown everywhere, and Ven rushed forward, slashing open 3 in seconds and killing another 4 in the next minute. The last 5 grabbed the girl, trying to cut her with their blades. But she suddenly burst to life, jumped in the air spinning 2 swords simultaneously. The goblins fell into their own entrails, and suffocated profusely. Ven was in shock, the girl was standing in her own glory, and the town continued to burn. Then the girl said something. "Ashanna." "My name is Ashanna", the girl said. She looked down at the bloody remains of the goblins. "I remembered my name... but I still cannot remember who I was..." Ashanna finished. Smoke rose into the air. It's black form piercing the blue that was above. Ashanna threw the swords at the dead goblins, and walked over and picked up a weapon that lay in the tall burning grass. It was a war scythe; one with a folding blade. She held it carefully. The heat that covered it began to burn her hands. Ven watched carefully waiting for Ashanna to drop it. She never did. She held on until the handle cooled off. Then she spun around several times with the scythe tight in her grasp. The blade sheared off the tips of the long grass as well as sliced through a tree that was behind her. All Ven could do was gasp. She actually felt...inferior. She didn't like that. At all. She threw one side of her twin sword at Ashanna, and it connected with a woosh. Ven smiled, but the girl had caught it. Her hand was bleeding. That was it. Ven got angrier. Chapter 2 Romeus hid in the bushes along a winding dirt road. He had been waiting there for at least an hour... waiting for a ride. Romeus became bored, he sat down and pulled his battle axe out of it's sheath, which was on his back. He looked upon it's blade, it had many grooves running through it, Romeus clenched the axe tightly and the grooves lit up a bright red. He smiled, Romeus could feel the axe vibrate as he clenched tighter. Red light laid upon the edges of his face as he smiled. Suddenly Romeus heard the churn of a wagon coming down the road, he readied his axe and crouched in a nearby bush. The wagon came down the road slowly, there was an old man driving it. His face was wrinkly and he had a beard that reached to this abdomen. As the wagon passed, Romeus crawled behind it and quietly jumped into it's back compartment with the hay. He rode stayed there for a the rest of the day and until late in the night. Suddenly, the wagon stopped. Romeus slowly woke up as the sound of grinding dirt stopped. He saw the old man grab a crossbow and get out of the wagon. Romeus quickly drew his axe, but was careful not to light it up. The old man grumbled as he walked around to the back and faced Romeus, "the hell are you doin' in my wagon boy!?" Romeus stuttered, "I-I just needed a ride." Romeus became nervous and his axe lit up. The old man raised his bow, "whatcha' got there son?" "It's nothing," Romeus said, hiding the axe behind his back. The old man pulled back the bow further, "bring it here." Romeus gave him the axe, "nice," the man said, "I'll take this as payment for the free ride, now get down the road." The old man turned around, Romeus loved his axe, he couldn't let it go. He extended his arm, the old man, his back turned to Romeus, grinned in delight as the axe lit up. Romeus slowly opened his palm. The axe brightened. Suddenly Romeus closed his hand and the axe flew out of the old man's hand and embedded itself into his forehead. Romeus approached the old man's body, "wish it could've turned out differently," he said. Romeus flicked his hand and the axe returned to him. It gleamed bright red. Romeus marched deep into the woods for the rest of the night. He walked and walked and walked. His legs pounded in pain with each beat of his heart. Romeus suddenly heard a man get hurt somewhere to his left. He went to investigate.